First-of-its-kind ‘faecal sludge treatment plant in Amta nears completion’

Kolkata: The first-of-its-kind faecal sludge treatment plant (FSTP) in rural Bengal being developed at Jhamatia Gram Panchayat under Amta II block in Howrah will be ready shortly. Panchayat Samitis of Amta I, Amta II, Udaynarayanpur and Bagnan I blocks have been covered under this project.

Local MLA Sukanta Paul accompanied by senior officials from the district administration, local rural body and Unicef which is providing technical expertise for the project visited the site on Friday and expressed satisfaction over the progress of the project. Besides Unicef, Bengaluru-based CDD India is also giving technical assistance for the project.

Amta II block Panchayat Samiti is executing the project with due approval of the state Panchayats and Rural Development (P &RD) department. The cost for the project with a capacity of 12 KLW is Rs 1.89 crore.

“We have plans to develop a waste management hub on this site. All types of waste management infrastructure and work being executed under Mission Nirmal Bangla will be exhibited here. Projects associated with solid waste management, plastic waste as well as grey water management will come up here in future,” Paul said.

The faecal waste will be collected from households, transported and then processed to produce organic fertiliser. The sludge will be collected from septic tanks and wells of houses.